I know I’m still taking my time telling my stories here on my blog, but all you have to know is that it was a decision I do not regret and there are some good stories, so stay tuned!

Even though I had shitty bus rides, bad nights of sleep and bouts of loneliness, I met wonderful people, tasted amazing food and experienced life as a local in more ways than I could have ever imagined.

With that said, and with freezing cold temperatures here in the Northeast US tonight, I wish I was headed back to South American summertime once again!!

An abridged version of the email I sent to friends and family alerting them of my upcoming plan, or lack thereof:

I have been contemplating the idea of quitting my job to travel throughout South America.Yesterday I did it.Yesterday I resigned from my job so I can travel throughout South America for two months.

Yes, seriously. I can’t believe it either. I’m very excited but if I am being totally honest you should know that my heart is pounding, I’m a tiny bit nauseous and my hands are shaking as I prepare to hit send on this email.

While my heart is speed-racing, you might have a few questions. Here are the answers:

I have not gone insane.

I know the economy is bad.

The boyfriend and I are still very much together.

Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador have made the short list.

I don’t have a solid travel plan, nor do I want one. This is a lot of ground to cover, so we’ll see where the wind takes me. If I love a place, I will stay longer. If I don’t, I will leave.

I have a general route I would like to follow but my itinerary will be dictated by what I want to do and see*, and recommendations I get from other travelers on the road.

Now that my plan is public knowledge (read: I gave my notice to my job) I feel comfortable sharing my planning process and how I came to this decision.

In recent weeks I have learned far too much about quick-dry travel towels, travel insurance and mosquito repellant. I’ve also learned that there are a lot of different kinds of locks. I have learned how to properly pack a rucksack (shoes do not go on the bottom) and I have kind of fallen in love with Amazon.com. I can also reveal which vaccination made me feel the worst (it shocked me too) and other fun facts.

While I am on the road I will be blogging but I will not be updating every day as I did in 2011. Writing once a day was my New Year’s resolution for 2011. I have new resolutions for 2012.

If you want to follow my journey, there are a few ways. You can enter your email on the site and you can decide if you want daily or weekly updates. You can like ‘Simply Three Cents’ on Facebook or you can follow @SmplyThreeCents on Twitter, though I anticipate I will be using it mostly for travel advice. You can choose one, or any combination.

I depart soon. Like January 24 soon.

If you can, come say bon voyage. Or more like buen viaje.

Saturday, January 21
Pilsener House

Love,
Me

* Pending situations that are out of my control such as weather (washed out roads) and protests (blocked roads).

While I participated in most of the BootsnAll 30 Day Indie Writing Challenge I did not cover everything. I had started this and found it in my draft folder, so I will finish it now.

Learn was one of the topics. Here goes:

Travel is about learning. Learning about yourself, learning about a place. And learning how well you can adapt to it.

I think the one big takeaway I have from my travels is to continue to learn about the world around me and continue to explore what is out there.

As I have written before, this world is far too big for me not to make a dent in it. Whether it’s in my own backyard, or halfway across the world, my curiosity is piqued. If the world will allow me, I will explore and thus learn.

I have learned that the boyfriend, while a hesitant traveler, is an engaged traveler and a bit of a history buff. Because of that, we are able to take in a new environment, while actively learning about where we are, and where those people have been.

I yearn to travel, to be on the road. I have such a desire to experience places and cultures, to learn things I did not know before, to try things out of my comfort zone and to engage with the world around me.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

I love this next quote and I hope my writing gets this across. The unknown allows us all to experience things outside of our comfort zones. When taken out of that familiar setting, something as simple as buying a knee brace will require effort and patience to get it done. It’s the lack of familiarity, and assumed ease, that makes the experience – behind door number one, two or three that much more exciting.

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson (who is one of my favorite travel writers)

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman

And this quote applies to life in general, it is not exclusive to travel.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Between 1884 and 1947 Argentina imitated Britain’s example with Australia and made the city a penal colony, incarcerating many of its most notorious criminals and political prisoners here and on remote Isla de los Estados (Staten Island). In 1906 the military prison was moved to Ushuaia, and in 1911 it was combined with the Carcel de Reincidentes, which had incarcerated civilian recidivists since 1896. Since 1950 the town has been an important naval base.

The prison was no longer in use but it was very cold (no heat) and depressing. This, or any prison for that matter, is not where I’d want to spend any time incarcerated. You’ll see a tour on the first floor. They only offered the tours in Spanish so we decided not to join. In each of the cells were signs and information in both English and Spanish so we self-guided ourselves through the prison.

As Ushuaia is a remote place, the city, or maybe it was a campaign by the tourist board, recognized that it’s a feat in and of itself to get there. We found out that the post office and some banks provide various stamps for your passport, to say you arrived at ‘the end of the world!’

I didn’t want to spend our time in Ushuaia hunting down these stamps so I reminded myself to be happy with just one version of the stamp. As luck would have it, we stopped in a bank and the woman went nuts — stamping every version of the stamp in our passports!

The next time I visit Ushuaia, I will be boarding a cruise to Antarctica!

Meet Plan Go is leading the career break movement in North America. On October 18th, hundreds of people, including myself, attended the second annual nationwide Meet Plan Go event.

Meet Plan Go’s co-founders, Michaela Potter, Sherry Ott and Michael Bontempi, organized an event that was held the evening of October 18th in 17 cities across North America – from New York to Toronto to St. Louis to Honolulu! Events in each city featured a local host, a panel of veteran career breakers and crowds of people filled with wanderlust.

If you have been reading my blog for some time, you may recall previous posts from my experience at the Meet Plan Go local NYC meet up here and also here.

What are your thoughts on taking a break from your career to travel?

Do you think it’s ‘crazy?’

— It’s not. There is a whole community of long-term travelers who are doing it, who have done it and who are contemplating it.

Are you thinking it’s got to cost a lot of money?

— The cost of living in North America is among the highest in the world. For example: the price of my usual lunch (a sandwich) here in NYC is equivalent to a day’s (or two or three) worth of food elsewhere in the world.

Or do you think, now is not the time?

— There will never be a right time. Life is short.

And for those of you who think you can’t do it because you have young children…